Richolasamoeba - TV Psychopath

I wanted to talk about this one thing people are skipping over. Reigen's feet scene. Read this first before judge me and laugh it off!!!

It is funny and it made me giggle as well, it became a meme really quickly. Yet it's actually a symbolism that is easy to miss unless you are familiar to Japan symbolism.

CW: discussion of s*icide. Please read at your own risk!!

To me, anime wasn't able to capture the seriousness of the situation.

Reigen was getting prepared to die.

Barefoot suicide is really a thing and also is a common TV trope in Japanese media. Many people believe it's because people don't want to track dirt and such into their ethereal destination, or to imply it was their choice to die. Apperantly as it got more commonly inspired by real life situations, abondoned pairs of shoes have became a symbol for suicide. Feel free to search yourself as well.

You can see in the manga panel, there was a literal hurricane going on in the place. All the people that have faced with Shigeo so far were all very powerful espers, yet got severely hurt. Reigen has no powers to protect himself, never had one. You can literally pinpoint the moment he has decided to go for it, and you can also how terrified he is.

He is ready to die to save Mob, yet he is still so scared. He goes for it anyways.

Considering seriousness of the situation, it was indeed a suicide mission for him. I believe the repeated scenes and focus on bare foot was to show Reigen was ready to risk everything to protect his young brother figure.

Everything Reigen had in his life, it was because of Mob's influence on him. This goes for both ways, we were shown how much Reigen affected Mob yet didn't fully grasp how much Mob affected Reigen. This was shown beautifully in the seperation arc. I believe we can see a similar situation going on here.

When he started S&S Counseling, he was an adult lost in life. He wanted to "become someone", (which I believe it's roots comes from his family dynamic) and Mob helped him achieved that. But it was built on a lie. And they both knew it, yet didn't talk on it. Mob didn't share about his hidden feelings much either.

At some point, understandably, it exploded. All the repressed feelings came to surface. Reigen risked everything he had left, including his life, to assure Mob that it was okay to struggle with his own identity, and it doesn't make him less or more of a person. We never really see Reigen being this vulnerable, so it was so refreshing to see. He didn't just assured Mob it's okay to struggle with self-acceptance, but he also admitted he struggles with it too. And it makes me cry whenever I think about he was willing to die to help the kid he raised.

I just can't help but adore the strong bond they have with each other. And I'm so glad the manga (and the anime) just ended with the most amazing way of showing self-acceptance.

I will always appreciate One's storytelling so much!!!

~ Reigen and The Doll Whose Hair Grows ~

こっこ on pixiv

Stop adopting spirits you find Reigen, geezz

霊幻新隆 - 操作の悪魔 (Manipulation Devil)

Devil!Reigen AU. The Manipulation Devil. He uses your emotions against you by influencing his own emotions to you, amplifying it, or just completely changing how you feel, but he refuses to use them against humans anymore and prefers to pretend he's one. Devil abilities aside, he is still quite charming and silver-tongued.

A devil who lived on earth for 28 years, gone native, and wants to dominate the exorcism/psychic business to get that cash. He unintentionally collects esper allies.

Edit:

I will be continuing this AU, more will be found in my blog's tag "#manipulation devil au"

Hey, Mob... There’s something I haven’t been able to tell you for a while now.

MOB PSYCHO 100 S3E12